DCMS awards £28m of funding to 10 social impact bond schemes

Sheffield City Council gets the largest share, £19.3m, to transform delivery of public services

The government has awarded £28m of funding to 10 new social impact bond schemes.

Sheffield City Council is the largest recipient by far of the funds, receiving £19.3m to "transform the way public services are delivered" in the city, the government said.

The funds are the second tranche from the government’s £80m Life Chances Fund, which was launched in 2016 with the aim of tackling entrenched social issues around six themes, including drug and alcohol dependency, services for children and young people and older people.

A statement from the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport said the funding would be combined with an additional £83m from local authorities.

It said the Sheffield scheme would set up local projects to help tackle a range of issues, from mental health and wellbeing to homelessness and youth unemployment.

Other recipients include Harrow Council, which will receive £1.9m for a scheme designed to help vulnerable young people, while the Innovation Unit in Doncaster in south Yorkshire will be given £1.8m for a project to address poor school attendance and educational attainment among 11 to 16-year-olds identified as having low social mobility.

The sum takes the total given out under the fund, which is being managed by the Big Lottery Fund on behalf of the DCMS, to £45.2m across 20 projects.

Funding for further projects is expected to be announced in the summer.

Tracey Crouch, the Minister for Sport and Civil Society, said: "The Life Chances Fund is helping to transform lives across the country and I am looking forward to seeing how these fantastic projects use this funding to benefit children and young people, teaching them valuable life skills."